This coming from DailyKos, which I pretty much read on a constant basis along with FiveThirtyEight.com who have great in-depth analysis as well as polls and statistical predictions:

George W. Bush won North Dakota twice, with 60% of the vote, to 38% for both Al Gore and John Kerry.

Bill Clinton failed to win the state twice, and his closest margin in the state came in 1996 when Bob Dole defeated him by 6.8%. This was as he was delivering a sound electoral-college thrashing to the Kansas senator, 379-159.

No Democrat has won the state since Lyndon B. Johnson in 1964. That was the most successful year for Democrats in the television era, as Johnson set a modern record with 61% of the vote, and carried everything but the Deep South and his opponent’s home state of Arizona.

Keep those things in mind as you process this poll from North Dakota: (after the break)

Obama (D) 43
McCain (R) 40

Note that while North Dakota consistently votes Republican at the national level, its entire federal delegation – U.S. Senators Kent Conrad and Byron  Dorgan, and U.S. Rep. Earl Pomeroy – is Democratic, speaking to an independent streak among North Dakotans that transcends party lines.

If that streak extends this year to the presidential election as well, John McCain is in serious trouble. North Dakota has just three electoral votes for the taking, but they are three votes that McCain truly cannot afford to lose. If North Dakota is in play, virtually no state is safe.

[Source: Daily Kos - Obama Leading In North Dakota]

A lot of people have made a big deal with about the debates before where Hilary was asked tough questions and now with Obama. I have no problem with the media trying to investigate these guys (and girl) thoroughly but do it on the issues. It is not important to this election whether the guy wears a flag pin in the Senate or what he thinks about his neighbor (one that he had a limited relationship with) and his dealings with The Weather Underground in the 1960s (when Obama wasn’t even 10 years old yet!). No one questioned why McCain and Clinton haven’t worn their pins in the Senate and that’s fine because that is not an issue that someone should be (or should not be) elected President. I think Jon Stewart pointed out that the first question on economy was posed to the candidates about 50 minutes and 16 questions into the debate… shows where their priorities lied that night.

It matters what they have planned regarding the country’s failing economy, the healthcare system and soaring gas prices that have seeming gone up 10 cents in the past week. I think it was a real joke what ABC did with this past “debate” and it just seemed like a partisan attack from the get go. The moment you have someone who moderates a debate that was a key figure in Bill Clinton’s administration certainly raises questions about the integrity of the debate. Hopefully the Pennsylvanian voters are smarter than that and can see through the mud slinging politics that we are still stuck in today.

Anyways, ran across this clip on YouTube and it is pretty funny. A mock George Stephanopoulos interview with Senator John McCain on the “real” issues but you would never know it if you actually watch the debates or interviews.

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yCrJB8dwTrA

So I had taken a little break from blogging because of this Actuary test but the moment I saw this, I knew I had to take a break right now and blog this. While watching The Daily Show, they showed an Obama clip when he was on with Chris Matthews on his College Tour or something like that. Matthews asks Obama if anytime in this campaign if something happened that he went to bed laughing about it.

Listen to Obama’s answer… Priceless.

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UNMZZzd1wts

The level of news that we get from Cable News is a laughing matter in itself and it does get joked about all the time. The look on Matthews face when he got that response was as unscripted of a look as you’ll ever get from him. But in all honesty, unless the news starts focusing on the actual issues like the failing economy or and not on silly issues like “How Card Counting is Good for Vegas” or how McCain’s wife’s Beer Money is helping his campaign. Can we for once just hear a little bit about what these candidates want to do regarding our failing education system that is leaving so many children behind? or a little news coverage on why McCain said that we would do nothing with the economy and it is bound to recover on its own?

Yes, I like him for his policies and vows for not taking any money from lobbyists but I’m also not naive to know that politicians will be politicians. Anyways, it’s always good to have a sense of humor to go along with all the policy talk and 3 AM phone calls. As for the sense of humor from Sen. Clinton and McCain… they are probably better off not having any.

On a side note… G2, Gatorade Tiger and NHL 08 for XBox 360 are definately the way to go. Anyways, enough of this for now. Back to Oreos and Random Variable Probabilities for me.

This could be the start of something if the Main Stream Media decides to actually show this, but we’ll see. I love this commercial. Casey Knowles reveals that her footage used in the original Clinton ad is from 8 years ago when they shot the commerical DURING THE DAY! Then they tint the video blue to add the “fear factor”. It’s good to see this girl continue to speak out that against the politics of fear.

Realistically however I really don’t expect the MSM, which is supposed to be so Pro-Obama to show any of this. They’ll just focus on their pastor news or that he-might-be-a-muslim news and continue to feed the fear…

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZT3gDut3_tc

If you haven’t seen the original ad, here it is.

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rt9qq2jYkCo&NR=1

A couple of good quotes I heard from Keith Olbermann recently.

“We as citizens must at some point ignore partisanship, not that we may prosper as a nation, but that merely we may function as a nation.”

“You Are Campaigning As If Barack Obama Were The Democrat And You Were The Republican” – (video below)

On a little tangent, gonna talk about a soccer player from Stevens who graduated and is playing professionally in Cyprus. Unfortunately I only really got to see him play here for a year but when I did he simply played like the field was his to dominate and that he did. Nick “Niko” Gkionis was a center back for the Stevens Ducks from 2003 to 2006 and was named a first-team All-American by the National Soccer Coaches Association of America his senior year. He also sent me a link to the 35-second preview for a soccer mix-tape that he has been working on and I have that embedded below. I can’t wait for the entire thing to be released. He has also been working in conjunction with Brian Granata of Stevens Athletics to provide an inside look at life on the road and life as a professional soccer player through a weekly blog entitled “Beyond the Pond.” His most recent post is from yesterday, make sure to go take a look.